The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a fun watch if you like video games and cute movies. Nintendo fans will feel like they grabbed a Super Star while watching this brightly colored magical adventure, which mashes several Mario games up into a full storyline. But for viewers who are less familiar, sitting through The Super Mario Bros. movie may feel like watching a second grader play a video game: It’s cute, but you can’t help thinking about all the other things you could be doing with your time. Making movies based on video games that have beloved characters and a built-in fan base seems like a natural choice, but not many do it well (exceptions include Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn’t break that rule of thumb.

While it is fun to see the brothers in their “real life” environment in Brooklyn — working as plumbers and living at home with their big Italian family — as well as how the filmmakers incorporate elements of the games, the film isn’t funny or creative enough to satisfy most teens or adults. Moreover, the child-friendly animation style is a tad misleading, as directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic up the scare factor, making Bowser and his minions more terrifying than they need to be. There’s plenty of excitement, non-stop action, and colorful images, but this project as a whole doesn’t exactly level up.

In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Brooklyn plumbers Mario and his younger brother, Luigi, fall down a mysterious portal and wind up separated inside a magical world. Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is ruled by Princess Peach, who’s strategizing how to prevent her land from being conquered by the nefarious Bowser. When Mario realizes that Luigi has likely been taken prisoner by Bowser, he and Peach team up to save his brother and her people.

Kine Gonzalez, a photographer here at Kaiser High School says “It was a funny movie that made me laugh several times.” Mario is her childhood crush so she had a great time watching the movie. Also she enjoyed seeing Princess Peach song and liked the dress she was wearing.

Laken Palmer, a 9th grader here at Kaiser High School says “I loved the movie because of how nostalgic it was for me. I played the game when I was younger.” She liked the Princess Peach song and listens to it daily now.

Another student here at Kaiser High School, Dylan Kazamoto, says “I thought the movie was way better than I expected.” He liked the voice actors and how each voice was unique. He also loved Donkey Kong’s presence in the movie because of how funny it was.

Overall this movie is worth watching. The Princess Peach song was very good and made the movie even more special. All the voice actors and elements of comedy made it a good watch. In all, I would recommend everyone to watch this movie.